How do we improve upon the gig economy? How do we elevate the work of people perhaps working across thousands of miles from their colleagues? We create a model of work where those with the skills own their own platform for sale and distribution. The rise of platform cooperativism has been gaining popularity. We hope to eventually create a whole learning path on this aspect of the co-operative economy. For now, however, we’ll share some of the recommended readings from our friends at The New School for Liberal Arts in New York. Trebor Scholz, Professor of Culture and Media and Michael McHugh (Project Manager for the Platform Co-op Development Kit) are working with a global network of people involved in platform co-ops to create a new tool that transforms our ever-digitizing world into one of ownership and autonomy. Learn more about what they are doing here.
Some recommended reading (info and news) to get you started:
Platform Co-ops: We connect co-operatives with the digital economy (17 pages)
In August 2018, chair of the Social Democrats in Germany, Andrea Nahles, publicly made platform cooperativism part of her political platform.
https://platform.coop/stories/andrea-nahles-democratic-party-of-germany
An overview of the Platform Co-op Development Kit (still in progress)
https://platform.coop/stories/the-platform-co-op-development-kit
Some highlights of how the model can help workers (examples/cases):
Refugees in Germany
https://platform.coop/stories/hamburg-refugee-women-organize
Poor women in the informal economy in India
https://platform.coop/stories/we-are-poor-but-we-are-many
3,000 child care providers in Illinois
https://platform.coop/stories/family-child-care-providers-in-illinois-look-to-platform-co-op-model-to-organize-and-offer-high-quality-care
Garbage recyclers in Brazil
https://platform.coop/stories/catadores-in-brazil
More reading from your team here at ed.coop:
When Robots Take Our Jobs, Platform Cooperatives are a Solution (YES! Magazine, April 20, 2018)
Platform Coops “something new is taking off” (Co-op News, August 26, 2018)
